NYC visitor alert: it will now cost you nearly $100 for a standard 40 minute ride around Central Park. Horse and carriage drivers just got their first price increase since 2010, just in time for the start of the peak NYC summer tourist season.
Drivers can now charge $54.08 for the first 20 minutes of a ride, and $21.63 for every 10 minutes after. That’s up from $50 for the first 20 minutes and $20 for every 10 minutes after. Under the new price guidelines, that means carriage drivers can legally charge $97.34 for a typical 40-minute park ride, which needs to be paid in cash.
Drivers may round out the cost downward to $90 o $95 to avoid change, but they are not permitted to “round up” the charge to $100. Drivers are required by law to display rate cards on their carriages. New rate cards are being prepared as we write this. Drivers can charge the new, higher, prices once the new rate cards are attached to their carriages.
According to the NY Daily News, drivers who are medallion owners currently get to keep the whole fare, and those who lease keep about $20. Their new amount has yet to be worked out.
The fare increase amounts to an 8% hike, guaranteed by a City Council bill in 2010 that guaranteed drivers cost-of-living increases. A fare increase was supposed to go into effect in 2013, but did not because of – well – politics.
For those who have been following the NYC horse and carriage story: NYC Mayor de Blasio tried and failed repeatedly to get the horse-drawn carriages banned, despite their popularity with visitors to NYC. The wage-price increase has been held up while Hizzoner played politics with the NYC City Council, animal rights activists, and the NYC real estate industry, which wants to develop valuable properties on the West Side where the horses are stabled.
The Mayor’s decision to back off his campaign promise to shut down the NYC horse and carriage business and allow the cost-of=living increase may or may not have anything to do with the fact that his office is being investigated by several law enforcement agencies for fund-raising efforts, and donations by real estate groups.
photo courtesy Central Park
The horse drawn carriages are an eyesore. New York is trying to be a modern, progressive city, with Wifi in the subways, as an example. The carriage horses are just a display of cruelty–they don’t enhance the city’s image at all. It just makes sense that along with some of the worst shelters in the country, there’s this too. I try to avoid the carriage horse areas when I visit NYC from out of town. it’s so depressing and antiquated.
Nicolo, welcome your visits to NYC because you really care!
So, you think it’s expensive?! What about the horses who pay with their freedom and lives? Watch Blinders to learn the truth behind this cruel industry : http://www.blindersthemovie.com/
Realizing that a horse is a sentient being, one who loves freedom, one who needs a pasture in which to graze, one who doesn’t enjoy being shackled to a carriage in the midst of traffic – realizing this, dear tourists, shows you have compassion for animals. Say a resounding “NO” to a carriage ride.
If people knew anything about horses, they would never take a carriage ride. It’s unnatural and harmful for horses to live in a way that does not respect their basic needs. Shame on you for spreading misinformation and keeping people in the dark ages.
We have a similar situation here in Montreal but it is just a matter of time before this practice goes the way of the Dodo. The conditions (hard pavement,pollution, traffic , temperature extremes, poorly cared for horses) are responsible for an ongoing outcry from concerned citizens and tourists. As well, the rundown stables are located in expensive real-estate that is rapidly being developed for upscale condos. Nothing is right about this situation. It is time for a ban.
NYC is a walking town. You will be wasting your money to take one of these rides. You will also be in some of the most horrendous traffic both inside and outside the park. Instead, walk through the park, especially at this time of year, it is beautiful. You might look at the horses on the street and think they look OK, but they live in filthy stables in tiny upper floor stalls where the big drafts cannot move around. This is why they smell so bad and dirty. They are. They do not live in Central Park and do not have any turnout to pasture. When they are used up as they eventually are, they get sent to the auctions on their way to Canada.
Well known tour guides Frommer’s and Foder’s both recommend against taking these rides.
Fodor’s says this: “But even so, there’s something unseemly about forcing horses to share territory with honking cars, zooming cyclists, and gregarious pedestrians, and paying for a carriage ride is one way of supporting the industry. The idea of a horse pulling you through Central Park may be a nice one, but it’s best to leave it as an idea.”
The mayor lost this battle because the Media and the Unions own this town and never supported him. They all wanted someone else for mayor. The people wanted to see this inhumane business shut down just as people are trying to do all over the world.
Thank you for sharing your opinion. As a native and lifelong New Yorker and career journalist (please see my bio on the “About” page), I am offended by – and disagree with – your claim that “the Media… own this town”.
Are you kidding me? Of course they do. People believe what they read. What about the Daily News. They went after deBlasio and lied about the carriage business – even creating a very unprofessional petition to “save NYC’s horses.” They never cared about the horses or the drivers. It was something else and if you are truly a good career journalist, you would know this.
I can’t say this as well as The Times did: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/business/media/behind-the-scenes-billionaires-growing-control-of-news.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0
and the billionaires are able to control the City via their $$. Please, follow the money.